I am one of those rare people who enjoyed the manga. The love scene between Utena and Touga was my favorite.

Riri-kins wrote:

I am one of those rare people who enjoyed the manga. The love scene between Utena and Touga was my favorite.

Same here! That scene was amazing! I do enjoy the manga as well as the anime. It's ashamed that the manga isn't popular.

Part of it is probably hate directed towards Chiho Saito. This fan base is probably never going to let her live down her homophobic remark despite that she did change.

I believe it comes from this interview:

HM: Putting the bare chest topic aside... this series is very popular among people who are gay. What's your opinion towards that?

KI: Gay people around the world like this series.

CS: (laughs) Really? You want to say that so definitively?

KI: I mean when I say around the world --

CS: It's true that there're various types of couple pairings... but you can also say that there aren't any, really. I guess there're many different ways to read between the lines.

KI [cantarella scene]: And this series is the only series of its kind. How do I explain what I'm trying to say? ... There're tons of anime with eroticism, but I'm pretty sure there isn't another anime that tells the story of two girls so innocently. In that respect I think it's popular because this is the only one that does that.

HM: Was that your intention from the beginning?

KI: Yes. I didn't tell Ms. Saito, but I was planning on it.

CS: (laughs) Initially I wasn't told anything about that. He asked me to draw something where the two were close, so I drew a piece where the two were next to each other looking rather friendly. He was extremely happy. I had no idea in the beginning what he was thinking, (laughs) but I figured it out at the end that his goal was to make me draw the two girls looking friendly.

KI: In the beginning, I brought it up lightheartedly during a meeting. She got really angry and said, "If that's the case, I'm out!"

CS: (laughs)

KI (bubbling with laughter): I realized it was something I wasn't supposed to say and I decided to keep it to myself.

CS (more seriously): No, that wasn't it. If I remember correctly, we started a debate about how we should make it more entertaining for girls. We were on a workshop trip and the debate turned into a fight. Mr. Ikuhara wouldn't give any consideration about enjoyment for girls. As a professional manga artist I couldn't offer such a joyless story to the target audience. We had this huge clash (_baaan!_) of opinions, which created a lot of friction between us.

Mainly the last statement in this little snippet is what people get upset over. How Anthy x Utena would be a joyless story for the readers.

If you'd like to read the entire interview you can find it here.

Jacrad wrote:

I believe it comes from this interview:

HM: Putting the bare chest topic aside... this series is very popular among people who are gay. What's your opinion towards that?

KI: Gay people around the world like this series.

CS: (laughs) Really? You want to say that so definitively?

KI: I mean when I say around the world --

CS: It's true that there're various types of couple pairings... but you can also say that there aren't any, really. I guess there're many different ways to read between the lines.

KI [cantarella scene]: And this series is the only series of its kind. How do I explain what I'm trying to say? ... There're tons of anime with eroticism, but I'm pretty sure there isn't another anime that tells the story of two girls so innocently. In that respect I think it's popular because this is the only one that does that.

HM: Was that your intention from the beginning?

KI: Yes. I didn't tell Ms. Saito, but I was planning on it.

CS: (laughs) Initially I wasn't told anything about that. He asked me to draw something where the two were close, so I drew a piece where the two were next to each other looking rather friendly. He was extremely happy. I had no idea in the beginning what he was thinking, (laughs) but I figured it out at the end that his goal was to make me draw the two girls looking friendly.

KI: In the beginning, I brought it up lightheartedly during a meeting. She got really angry and said, "If that's the case, I'm out!"

CS: (laughs)

KI (bubbling with laughter): I realized it was something I wasn't supposed to say and I decided to keep it to myself.

CS (more seriously): No, that wasn't it. If I remember correctly, we started a debate about how we should make it more entertaining for girls. We were on a workshop trip and the debate turned into a fight. Mr. Ikuhara wouldn't give any consideration about enjoyment for girls. As a professional manga artist I couldn't offer such a joyless story to the target audience. We had this huge clash (_baaan!_) of opinions, which created a lot of friction between us.

Mainly the last statement in this little snippet is what people get upset over. How Anthy x Utena would be a joyless story for the readers.

If you'd like to read the entire interview you can find it here.

Hmm where exactly is it homophobic? O_O to the point to upset people. She merely tells her opinion about the target audience, which is the Japanese girls and not any overseas lgbt person (not that there is a problem with overseas lgbt's but they are simply NOT the target audience) it seems to me that people simply look for reasons to get mad, forgetting that what is true in the west is not necessarily true in east v_v. And lets face it the beauty of Utena is the innocent and honest feelings between Utena and Anthy. 
oh well...
Also thanks for the link I'll go read it in a minute

Ashnod wrote:

kj924 wrote:

[
I also am very curious why people do not like the manga. I agree the manga is incredible and needs more love!

For me, the primary manga reduces Juri from a magnificent, if flawed, empress to a simpering Touga groupie who just happens to be a master swordswoman. Who, for reasons unknown, duels Miki with a real sword when he was clearly not expecting her to, with the terrible justification that he needs to be ready for anything. For that reason alone, I cannot stand it.

That character is not the character I came to love in the anime.

I'm objective enough to know that since the manga is a different version of the tale, that this interpretation of the character is valid enough. But I do not like it, so...

Yeah, not a fan.

I think Jyuri's character being like that is the english translation's fault, the original Japanese text gives her more credit as a person, she is in love with Touga, but not the groupie type at all, while groupies are all "kyaaaaaaa tougasamaaaaaaaaaaa" Jyuri never uses such honorific for him.

(I still LOVE her yurilicious character in anime though)

Let's curtail the discussion of Chiho Saito's attitude towards LGBT people, or towards her target audience, in this thread; we have a history on this forum of derailing threads over this topic.   This would be a more appropriate thread to continue that discussion!